Submerged paddle-wheel



N UNITED srn'rns WILLIAM r. KETGIIUM, or BUFFALO, NnwroRK.

SUBMERGED PADI-)LE-WI-IEEL.

' Specication of Letters PatentNo. 11,429, dated August 1,` 1854.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F.

KE'I'oI-IUM, of Buifalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Centrifugal Submerged Propellers; and I do hereby declare `that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a longitudinal vertical sectionof section of a canal boat, taken in the line ai; Fig. 2, a logitudinal horizontal section, and Fig. 3, a plan View of the bottom of the same.`

The same letters refer to the same parts in each of these i'gures.

The nature of my invention consists in the relative arrangement of a centrifugal `wheel with the charge and discharge openings, so as that water shall be taken up by the wheel at its center, at the bottom of the boat, and discharged at the stern, on each or both sides of the stern post, or in a volume of nearly the width of the beam of the vessel. The wheel being constructed with buckets arranged tangentially` to its axis,

and the casing in which it is adjusted of such size and form, and with such a disposition of its openings that the-above object is attained with an increased volume and centrifugal action, with a given force for propulsion without diminishing the strength in the construction of the vessel, and without occupying much room inthe after partof the same.

In applying myinvention to a canal boat, I employ a wheel (A) of `about four feet in diameter, formed of a disk,and rim, and any desired number of buckets which are placed at about such an angle to the pe-I riphery as that a line drawn across the axis will cut their extreme points or peripheries as indicated by the dotted line Fig. 2. This I adjust in a horizontal position in one end of a rectangular or nearly rectangular casing, (B), placed in the stern of the vessel. Said casing `which is closed at top and bottom, I provide with an opening in its bottom, concentric with and under the center of the wheel, and a large opening at its end nextthe stern of the vessel. This latter opening, which forms that for the discharge water of propulsion, I divide into two parts, (B) and (C), by the partitions (a) and,(b),` which areso placed as to divide the said openings andl ,the `interior :surface of the casinginto such form and `relative capacity to the diameter of the wheel as above` stated, and the other one (B) gradually diminishes by the angular parti` tion (b) to the orifice of discharge which is the same size as that ofy (0,) allowing a space between, (a) and (t), the two partitions, for the stern post. This arrangement in connection with the position of the wheel, it is contended, will give a uniform and equal discharge at the stern of the vessel, without loss of centrifugal force, or a retardation of the motion of the wheel, thus giving an increased force, and medium of reaction against the surrounding sea or water, for propulsion, with a given amount of power, and preserve the advantage of maintaining the usual strength in the construction of the vessel.

The whole apparatus will occupy` a space of only about seven feet square, when applied to a canal boat, and a steam engine of sixhorsepower, will drive the wheel with a force and speed sufficient to propel` the vessel seven or eight miles per hour; the expense of which will be vastly less than that attending ,the present mode of propelling such vessels, and all the vexatious delays and inconveniences of that system will be avoided.

The wheel is rotated in the direction of the arrow (Z) and it will be observed that the discharge opening (C) is of less capacity Athan that of (B), and is straight, i

which form and capacity is regulated by the size andv position of the wheel, that the wheel in its revolution shall discharge from its buckets all the watertaken up by it, at its center with equal centrifugal force, and volume through the said openings, and avoid the liability it would otherwise have if carrying a dead weightof water in its revolution, and thus weakening its power of suction and tangential discharge, and also avoids the removal of the stern post by spanning it, and thus preserving the strength of the vessel. These partitions extend from the top to the bottom of the casing and that one (a) `is straight or parallel with nthe side of the casing B, and at a tangent with the periphery of thewheel, andthe other (b) joins that of (a) near the periphery of the wheel, extending to the sternend of the casing, and is also on a tangent with the periphery of the Wheel, thus dividing the discharge openings (0,) and (B) into tWo openings one of which is straight and the other conical, but both of the saine capacity or Size at their discharge orifices as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the centrifugal Wheel (A,) relatively to the charge and discharge openings of the easing, (B), and the division of the interior of the said casing by the partitions (a) and (b) so as to form WILLIAM F. KETCHUM Witnesses i T. CAMPBELL, GEO. R. WEST. 

